Exam 1: Introduction to Statistics

The weight (in pounds)of a newborn infant is an interval scale measurement.

Children received grapefruit juice mixed with 2%,5%,or 10% sugar to test whether higher concentrations of sugar can enhance liking for the taste of grapefruit juice.In this example,the sugar mixtures are the independent variable.

Descriptive statistics can be used to describe populations and samples.

Recording the number of dreams recalled is an example of ______ data,whereas recording the time (in minutes)spent in a dream stage of sleep is an example of ______ data.

To understand chimpanzee behavior in general,a scientist observes the hierarchy or dominance behavior of a family of male chimpanzees in a naturalistic setting.In this example,the scientist observes the behavior of a population of chimpanzees.

A population can be ______ group of interest to a researcher.

Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics are used for precisely the same purposes.

Suppose that a researcher is interested in a group of 10 million people who paid to see a movie in theaters.In this example,the 10 million moviegoers would be regarded as

A categorical variable is an example of discrete data.

State the four scales of measurement in order from least informative to most informative.

The size of a reward (in grams)is an example of continuous,quantitative data.

A psychologist reviews her notes for all her patients and determines that on average her patients complete therapy in 24 days.The average time to complete therapy among all her patients is called a(n)

An education counselor records the number of high school graduates enrolled in community colleges,4-year colleges,and universities.What scale of measurement is the type of college?

A researcher measures the body temperature (in degrees Fahrenheit)of participants immediately before and immediately following sleep.Temperature is on what scale of measurement?

Researcher A measures academic preparedness as the percent correct responses on an entrance exam; Researcher B measures academic preparedness as the current class rank of students.Which researcher measured academic preparedness as discrete data?

Three key elements of control that allow researchers to draw cause-and-effect conclusions are

Researchers often measure sample statistics to estimate or learn more about parameters in populations from which the sample statistics were measured.

Continuous data are only distributed in discrete units.

A researcher observes the number of tasks completed by male and female participants during a multitasking observation period.In this example,sex (male,female)is the quasi-independent variable.

A researcher records the number of votes for each of five candidates running for class president.Based on her presentation of the following results,what type of statistics did she use?